Chongqing - Yibin high speed railway, with a length of 206 km (128 mi) and allowed top speed of 350 km/h (217 mph), is the northern section of Chongqing - Kunming high speed railway. It has been on test operation since August 16 and is expected to be put into official use in this late September or early October.

By then, the travel time between Chongqing and Yibin will be shortened to around 50 minutes. Currently, the high speed trains run between the two cities with detours to Chengdu, and the travel time is as long as 3.5-4.5 hours.

The southern section of Chongqing - Kunming high speed railway between Zhaotong and Kunming is scheduled to open in 2025 and the whole section in 2027, by when the duration between the two metropolitans in southwestern China will be shortened to about 2 hours from present 5 hours.

Huanglong Jiuzhai Railway Station, about 26km (16mi) from Huanglong National Scenic Reserve and 90km (56mi) from Jiuzhaigou National Park, has been put into use since August 30, 2024. Currently, there are 6 high speed trains running here from Chengdu East Railway Station, taking 1H39M to 2H10M. A second class seat ticket costs CNY128 or 141. On arrival, there are both buses and taxis sending passengers to the scenic spots mentioned above, greatly saving them troubles and time on the way. For return trip, 5 trains are available, with travel time of 1H41M to 2H23M.

The last section of Chengdu - Jiuzhaigou Railway, Zhenjiangguan - Huanglong Jiuzhai Railway has been completed and under test since July 21, 2024. Presently, visitors can only travel by train from Chengdu to Zhenjiangguan Railway Station, which is still about 150km (93mi) away from Jiuzhaigou Scenic Area. After Zhenjiangguan - Huanglong Jiuzhai Railway being put into use by end of this year, travelers can take a high speed train from Chengdu all the way to Huanglong Jiuzhai Railway Station, which is about 26km (16mi) from Huanglong National Scenic Reserve and 90km (56mi) from Jiuzhaigou National Park. A single trip will take 3 hours or so.

Below are several major adjustments according to the new timetable:

1. Altogether 12,690 passenger trains will be in service, 205 more than before.

2. Bullet trains will start to run for the first time from Hong Kong to Zhangjiajie and Fenghuang Ancient Town, Dali to Shenzhen, Chengdu to Zhuhai, Chongqing to Huangshan and more.

3. More high speed trains will be available from Hong Kong to Guangzhou and Shenzhen, Kunming and Lijiang to Shangri-la, Wuhan to Changsha, Zhengzhou to Wuhan and more.

4. The shortest travel time between Beijing and Guangzhou will be shortened for 22 minutes, from 7H38M to 7H16M.

China Railway Cooperation announced recently: since June 15, 2024, the ticket price of high speed trains running on Wuhan - Guangzhou, Shanghai - Hangzhou, Hangzhou - Changsha, and Hangzhou - Ningbo High Speed Railways at a highest speed of over 300 km/h (186 mph) will be adjusted.

In general, ticket price of these trains will be increased by around 20% in high seasons or peak travel time, while discounted tickets will be also provided in off-peak travel time in low seasons. Below are some of the 2nd class price differences before and after the adjustment for reference:

Current Price	Highest Price after June 15, 2024	Lowest Price after June 15, 2024
Wuhan – Guangzhou South
CNY 463.5	CNY 553 ↑19.31%	CNY 304 ↓34%
Shanghai Hongqiao – Hangzhou East
CNY 73	CNY87 ↑19.18%	CNY 48 ↓34%
Hangzhou East – Changsha South
CNY 405	CNY 485 ↑ 19.75%	CNY 267 ↓34%
Hangzhou East - Ningbo
CNY 71	CNY 85 ↑ 19.72%	CNY 47 ↓34%

We, TravelChinaGuide will update our ticket booking system in time. You can rely on it to know the real-time ticket price.

The May Day holiday, that is May 1st - 5th in 2024, is coming. It is predicted by China Railway Cooperation that about 120 million passengers will travel by train during the period, the most ever in history. To meet the increasing needs, they will put more trains into service. But still, it is highly advised to book a ticket in advance if you plan to travel during the holiday. The tickets for May 1st will be available from April 17th on, May 2nd from April 18th on, and the like.

Since March 15, 2024, the trains between Hohhot in China and Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia have started to run again after stopping the service for 4 years. It departs from Hohhot at 21:59 every Monday and Friday, numbered as 4652; in Monglia, it is numbered as 33. From Ulaanbaatar, the train also departs every Monday and Friday, numbered as 34; upon arriving in China, it is renumbered as 4654. Travel duration is around 24 hours.

In addition, another pair of trains between Erlian in China and Ulaanbaatar have been resumed on August 30, 2023. It leaves from Erlian every Monday and Friday and sets off from Ulaanbaatar every Thursday and Sunday.

Currently, all these international train tickets can only be booked at the involved railway stations with original passports of the passengers.

The coming 2024 Chinese New Year holiday will last from Feb.10 to Feb.17, 2024. However, the travel rush has started much earlier, on January 26 and will last till March 5. Although more trains have been put into service temporarily, the tickets are still in demands, especially those to some hot travel destinations like Harbin, Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an and Guangzhou. In addition, it is suggested to arrive at the railway stations earlier than usual, at least 1.5 hours before departure for the boarding process.

Recently, China Railway announced that the sample of a new type of high speed train, CR450 will be made and tested in 2024. Its experimental running speed is expected to reach 450km/h (279.6 mph). In the past June of 2023, the key parts of the train had been tested, showing a surprising high speed of 453km/h (281.5 mph).

If everything goes well, CR450 will be put into service in 2025, at an actual top running speed of 400km/h (248.5 mph), the world's fastest at that time. By then, the travel time between Beijing and Shanghai will be shortened from 4.5 hours to 2.5 hours.

It was reported recently that Wuhan - Hefei High Speed Railway will start to be built soon in the end of December, 2023. It is a section of the 2,100-km-long (1,300 mi) Shanghai - Chongqing - Chengdu High Speed Railway, reputed as "An East-West Traffic Artery" of China. The Wuhan - Yichang section has been under construction since September 25, 2021, Shanghai - Hefei section since September 28, 2022, and Chongqing - Chengdu section since November 28, 2022. The whole section is expected to be completed in 2030. By then, the travel time from Shanghai to Chengdu will be shortened from present 12.2 hours to 6.7 hours, and to Chongqing from 10.7 hours to 5.3 hours.